Asylum (Touched by the Fae 1)

And, thank God, it’s green.

I don’t know where I am. Not quite yet. At least I can be sure of one thing, though: I’m not in

the Fae Queen’s gardens anymore.

“Riley. You’re finally awake.”

I’m not alone, either.

Nine is crouched beside me, his body low, the tail of his long jacket flaring out behind him. It flaps in the cool wind. It’s not so warm here, not so humid, and when I tilt my head back so that I can look at the sky again, it’s a relief to see that I’m back in the human world.

Lowering my gaze, I pull myself into a sitting position. I can feel the weight of his open stare and purposely avoid his eyes, his words, and his presence. I’m so stinking pissed at him, I want to knock him over. It would definitely be worth having to touch him.

I put my petty revenge on the back-burner when it finally clicks. I recognize the scene around me with a sudden jolt. Okay. Hold on. I know exactly where I am.

There’s the gate, unlocked for the moment, though I know the caretaker’s habits. At ten minutes to midnight, he’ll start his final rounds before he locks up for the night. A couple of rows away from where I am, I see the Richardsons’ mausoleum, the stone behemoth that shielded me from the rain the last time I was here.

And there, somewhere on the west side of the cemetery, I’ll find the concrete angel that stands guard over Madelaine’s grave.

It’s like what Nine said. I could run through shadows while I’m awake and nothing would ever happen because, after six years of therapy and denials, it’s too hard for me to believe in the impossible. When I let myself faint, though? I must’ve hit that shadow and my body brought me back where I belong.

Nine got in my head. I should’ve landed in my bed at Black Pine—it’s where I’ve traveled every other time I, well, I sleepwalked through the shadows. All of his arguments about the asylum being compromised got to me. Self-preservation must’ve kicked in. I’m not in Black Pine.

I’m in Acorn Falls.

I don’t know how much time has passed. It’s late, the chilly temperature washing away the last of the evening’s heat. Besides the fact that it’s pitch-dark around me, Nine’s presence is a pretty big clue that it’s still night out. As soon as the sun’s up again, he’ll be gone.

I… I don’t know how I feel about that yet.

I’m so used to ducking and hiding when I find myself suddenly in the cemetery. Especially now that I know I’m really here, I don’t want the grizzled old caretaker to find me sitting on a plot, hanging out with a fae who can shoot laser beams out of his palm.

That totally happened. It all happened. Escaping the asylum, visiting the Fae Queen’s gardens, finding Jason… confronting Rys. It all happened.

I wait for the panic to crash over me. It doesn’t. I think I’ve been pushed way past my limit at this point. Like, I’m so spent, I’m looking at the impossible series of events from tonight and just shrugging them off. I mean, it can’t get much worse, can it?

I’m glad I made it here. Just knowing that I’m hiding out in the Acorn Falls cemetery gives me a tiny bit of peace. Doesn’t matter how I got here. It’s night. Nine might be here, but Rys isn’t. The Fae Queen isn’t.

It’s something.

I lean against the nearest gravestone. Robin Maitland, 1912-1989. She had a good, long life. Treasured wife and mother. She sounded nice. I don’t think she’d mind me using her final resting place to take a breather.

The chill of the marble stone cuts right through the material of my hoodie.

Eh. It’s not so bad. It could be raining.

The grass rustles, the swish of Nine’s duster whispering in the wind as he gets to his feet. He moves so that he’s standing in front of me. Without a word, he offers his bare hand out.

“I know you’re kidding.” I sound tired. So very tired. These small catnaps aren’t doing enough for me to recharge. Slumping back on the grass, I lean against Robin Maitland’s headstone. It’s as much for support as it is to cover me from the caretaker’s lantern. “Get back down. You don’t want to get us caught.”

He doesn’t move. “I’m not worried about what a human can do to me.”

No. Of course not.

“Yeah. Well, maybe I’m worried about you’ll do to a human. It’s not the caretaker’s fault we crashed here.”

Nine blinks. His outstretched hand falls to slap the side of his thigh. “You’d want me to spare him? He’s obviously a threat to you.”

So I was right. Dark Fae or Light Fae, it doesn’t matter. Just like Rys killed Madelaine as almost an afterthought, Nine wouldn’t even think twice about offing the cemetery caretaker.